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Live From...
Thousands Dead in Massive Tsunamis
Aired December 27, 2004 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: In the Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko has a commanding lead. His rival is selling he will not succeed. Yanukovych says he will appeal the election results to Ukraine's Supreme Court.
And a new Osama bin Laden tape may have surfaced. The Arabic language network Al Jazeera aired an audiotape from a man claiming to be bin Laden today. His identity has not been verified. The speaker, though, endorses Jordanian born terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and calls for Iraqis to boycott next month's elections.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The death toll continues to climb from the disastrous tsunamis in Asia. At this hour, our latest estimates, more than 22,000 dead in about 10 countries, mostly in a geographic semicircle around the Indian Ocean, scene of a massive undersea earthquake.
As of now almost half of all confirmed deaths in Sri Lanka.
About an hour after that earthquake hit, this was a scene at a tourist resort in Thailand. A massive rush of water that came without warning, engulfing all in its path. Similar scenes reported over and over along thousands of miles of coastline.
In Sri Lanka today the aftermath: beaches reduced to mud, tourists gone, an entire industry wrecked. The same dismal story from Indonesia to Malaysia to Thailand and India.
Here's one departed tourist who fled the shaken region to return back home to England.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of a sudden we saw people rushing from the beach side, because it's literally 100 yards. We thought what was going on? It's 10:30 in the morning. It's ridiculous; it's hot.
And all of a sudden, within five seconds, the water just seeped in. It was amazing. It was so quick. It was like a movie. And all of a sudden, all the water reached the ground very fast. Then within a few minutes it was coming up to the second floor, but then it started receding back and you couldn't get out, basically. There was complete pandemonium.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: The earthquake that spawned this far-flung disaster was the strongest in 40 years and the fourth biggest in recorded history.
Deadly waves reached thousands of miles from the epicenter all the way to the horn of Africa, where hundreds of people are reportedly dead along the coastline of Somalia.
Now, all together, it is a blow of staggering scope. CNN's Randi Kaye reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was sudden and it was severe. A wall of water, the result of a massive earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Indian Ocean's floor, slammed the shoreline.
This is Panang, Malaysia, where massive amounts of water rolled through the streets. Not even buildings stand in its way.
Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka was also hit. At resorts in Thailand, the tsunami caught vacationers off guard.
JOHN IRVINE, REPORTER: My wife screamed to me. She grabbed our daughter, Elizabeth, and I looked frantically for my 5-year-old son, Peter.
KAYE: British reporter John Irvine's son is safe. Irvine was on the island of Phuket off Thailand, vacationing with family.
No longer guests of luxury hotels, tourists are now homeless, forced to drag their luggage through deserted streets, many in search of higher ground.
The death toll continues to climb, more than 20,000 and counting. Coffins are being numbered and marked with pictures of the dead inside.
DAYANDHI MARAN, INDIAN GOVERNMENT OFFICE: Families are being -- have died. No one to really report it the missing people to.
KAYE: For now, without enough coffins to go around the bodies of women and children lay in the street. Families face the difficult task of collecting those they've lost and grieving in public.
Homes and neighborhoods are gone. Bungalows float like boats in the muddy waters.
Survivors are in shock. The water will eventually recede but those who can leave, will.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So now we're just going to get to the airport and just get out of there, get home. It's been an absolute nightmare.
KAYE: Randi Kaye, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: And CNN has reporters stationed along this ring of disaster. They are bringing us the story from Indonesia to Thailand, Sri Lanka and India. Right now, here's CNN's Aneesh Raman on Phuket Island, Thailand.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The moment a tropical resort became a scene of horror. A massive wave, one of many, roaring into Patong Beach on Phuket Island.
An Australian tourist on a rooftop capturing the beginning of a catastrophe: a wall of water engulfing buildings, surging into the streets, carrying people, vehicles and more. One snapshot of a disaster that has ravaged a continent.
Not far away, 26-year-old Belgian tourist Julia Lebeau was among thousands of vacationers enjoying a break in the tropics.
JULIA LEBEAU, TSUNAMI SURVIVOR: And I was just trying to spend the day on the beach. And suddenly all the water went away and everyone was just looking at it and saying, where is all the water? And then suddenly, it was all coming at us. And people just started to run and scream.
RAMAN: In seconds serene tranquility turned into a hellish fight to stay alive.
LEBEAU: The building was collapsing, so I had to jump to another building. And then a second wave came in, and a third wave came in and people injured. I saw dead bodies floating. And so then at a moment we decided with a couple of people just to run for it.
RAMAN (on camera): As tsunami waves devoured the coastlines of Phuket and Phi Phi Island, tourists like Julia desperately scrambled for higher ground. Whatever remained on the shore now evidence of severe destruction.
(VOICE-OVER) Destruction Julia avoided. She is now at this hospital along with hundreds of other survivors from at least 20 countries, all in shock.
LEBEAU: I hope to be back for a new year with my family. We'll never forget this Christmas.
RAMAN: But at least she has somewhere to go. Many who live here are still missing family members and have no home left.
Aneesh Raman, CNN, Phuket, southern Thailand.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: And now the latest from the devastation in Sri Lanka, where some 11,000 are reported dead and a quarter of a million are homeless. In the capital city of Colombo, torrential rains have set in.
Reporters Harry Smith of ITV News says the already grim situation now even more desperate for survivors.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HARRY SMITH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As we drove south from the capital, Colombo, it wasn't long before we saw the scale of the damage the sea has inflicted on this island nation.
In a torrential rain, they surveyed the damage and began to pick up the pieces.
(on camera) And this is just one small stretch of the Sri Lankan coastline which was hit. And to make matters worse for those who are now homeless, they're being drench by a tropical storm.
(voice-over) This man told me there wasn't one member of his family who still had a roof over their heads.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My brother and my sister, four houses on the same land, everything, all houses are totally destroyed. Everything.
SMITH: Some have already brought in earth movers to staff the cleanup. Others have only their hands to pick at the rubble.
(on camera) This is the fishing village of Piagala (ph), where boats like this are normally left moored down on the beach. This one ended up more than 300 yards from the water's edge, tossed by the force of the waves, left high and dry here in the village churchyard.
(voice-over) Cars were also picked up and tossed aside. One man told me he found his 400 yards from his wrecked garage.
It will be many months before trains once again run into the village station. The authorities have managed to clear most of the roads of debris. Much needed supplies such as freshwater are getting through here.
But this is a relatively prosperous and heavily populated part of Sri Lanka. In other areas they haven't begun to count the cost.
Harry Smith, ITV News, Sri Lanka.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Well, as shocking and devastating as Sunday's tsunamis were, the worst is likely yet still to come. Millions of people in Southeast Asia are now without food, shelter, water and medicine. And sanitary conditions are expected to deteriorate rapidly.
CNN's Allan Chernoff on the immediate and growing world response to the crisis on what is need most -- Allan.
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Betty, relief organizations are asking for cash donations, not goods, and among the groups that are soliciting donations, the American Red Cross, which, of course, has affiliates overseas in more than 180 countries, also CARE and Americare. This is a relatively small organization that takes donations from pharmaceutical companies and then donations from private individuals. That money is used to actually ship the goods overseas. So they say every $100 of cash donations actually result in more than $3,000 of medical supplies arriving at areas where it is needed most.
Now, the U.S. government has already pitched in. It is contributing $15 million as a starter, and the secretary of state says the money already is being disbursed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: Our ambassadors in Sri Lanka, the Maldives, India and Indonesia have provided a total of $400,000 in immediate assistance. And we are in discussion with the International Committee of the Red Cross about providing $4 million in the course of a day of the $6.6 million appeal that they have made.
We are also examining what other assets might be needed, and we'll do everything we can to help.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHERNOFF: The head of emergency relief at the United Nations today said that the U.S. and other countries are, quote, "stingy." He said that the needs now will be unprecedented for this disaster.
Now, of course, it's going to be weeks before we really know the full extent of this catastrophe. But even some of the aid organizations have been hit. Oxfam, for example, in Sri Lanka, one of their offices was flooded. And CARE says that some of its staff is unaccounted for right now -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Allan, as people watch from home and are thinking about going out and buying blankets and bottles of water, what's needed most? Is it money?
CHERNOFF: That's a very good question. The aid organizations are saying send money, not goods at all. Partly because the aid organizations are able to use that money to buy exactly what is needed.
Now, there have been many stories of communities coming together, gathering food, blankets, whatever, and then they have the goods and they don't even know how to ship it over. They don't have contacts.
These professional aid organizations have people on the ground. They have experience actually getting the goods over. And very often they can use the money to buy the products locally. Of course, that cuts down on transportation time, and expenses and also can help to stimulate the local economy.
NGUYEN: And you can reach more people that way, especially when the cost is a lot less. Allan Chernoff, thank you for that -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: An Atlanta family wants and waits anxiously for news from their loved ones.
NGUYEN: A couple honeymooning in Thailand has not been heard from since the tsunami struck. Their story just ahead on LIVE FROM.
O'BRIEN: Also caught up in the catastrophe, a man made famous by his appearances on "The Oprah Winfrey Show". He shares what it was like to be literally swept away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Here in the U.S., people are desperately waiting to hear news of loved ones in some of the tsunami stricken areas.
Wendy Beville joins us now on the phone from Atlanta. Wendy's brother and sister-in-law were honeymooning in Thailand.
And Wendy, first of all, have you heard anything yet?
WENDY BEVILLE, BROTHER AND SISTER-IN-LAW IN THAILAND: no, we haven't heard anything since Wednesday night.
NGUYEN: And what did you hear Wednesday night?
BEVILLE: We just got a phone call from Brent. They were in Bangkok. They were basically just checking in with us. They were having a great time.
NGUYEN: Brent and your sister-in-law Diana were honeymooning in Thailand. Why Thailand? Why did they choose to go there?
BEVILLE: They -- they wanted to go to Thailand for three years. They -- they wanted to go and explore -- explore Thailand. They wanted to visit tribes and villages and see how the people there lived. They live in huts, and they just wanted to explore the whole area, visit Asia.
NGUYEN: Do you have any idea where they may have been staying in Thailand, if it was one of the beach resorts?
BEVILLE: I have no idea where they were staying. But Brent told my husband that he was definitely planning on doing some surfing, which is a little alarming. But he also mentioned that they were going to be visiting Vietnam and Singapore. So it just depends on where they were when this hit.
NGUYEN: So there could be a chance that they may have already left the country.
Well, let's talk about his surfing. So there is a possibility, though, and I guess this leads to your worry, that they may have been on the beach when the tsunami hit?
BEVILLE: Right. That's right. And, you know, Brent surfed all over the world. He -- he surfed in Hawaii and Coast Rica. He surfed in Europe. And I just find it hard to believe that if he was right here that he wouldn't -- wouldn't go surfing. NGUYEN: Since he's such a big surfer, do you think maybe he would have seen some kind of a warning sign of this tsunami?
BEVILLE: I don't think so. I mean, I've just been listening to the news. And even people sitting on the beach where just staring at the ocean and had no clue that it was coming.
NGUYEN: Take us back to yesterday when you first heard the news of the tsunami that hit Thailand. What went through your head?
BEVILLE: I was just -- my heart just dropped. I got the phone call from my -- my father, who said, "Did you know that a tsunami has hit Thailand?" And obviously I didn't know. But I was worried sick the rest of the night. I think our whole family was.
NGUYEN: Are you getting any kind of help in locating him, whether it be from the U.S. government, from the Thailand government? What do you know?
BEVILLE: Well, we've -- we've been contacting the help lines, and they've been really great to take our names, numbers, assuring us that if they hear anything they'll return our phone calls. And they welcomed us to keep checking back with them any time they want to.
So we just -- we haven't heard anything yet. And I guess I'm just concerned, because he knows that a tidal wave hit. So you know, we're just -- we're hoping for that phone call from him to let us know that he's OK. And why we haven't heard that I think is why we're all worried.
NGUYEN: When is he expected back from his honeymoon?
BEVILLE: January the 3rd.
NGUYEN: OK. Not too long from now. Not too long.
What kind of a message, as we wait and many families out there wait to hear from their loved one, what kind of message do you have for your brother and your sister-in-law?
BEVILLE: Well, we just want to hear from them. We want to know they're OK. We're hoping that they're somewhere where they can see this and just -- just call us and let us know. And until then, not knowing is really hard.
NGUYEN: Yes, that's a big part of the battle. Wendy Beville, we wish you the best of luck. Hopefully you'll hear from him soon. Thank you for speaking with us today.
BEVILLE: Thank you very much.
NGUYEN: Miles.
O'BRIEN: Now to Sri Lanka, the island nation just east of India described as the hardest hit region. More than 10,000 people reported dead there alone. Thousands more still missing. Yesterday, as the dramatic events were unfolding, CNN was able to speak with an American man visiting Sri Lanka. Celebrity decorator Nate Berkus, a regular on "The Oprah Winfrey Show", spoke with CNN's Fredricka Whitfield about a vacation turned nightmare.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NATE BERKUS, TSUNAMI SURVIVOR: We were completely devastated yesterday morning around 9 in the morning. We desperately, desperately need help from the government here. We're without water. We're without food, and many of us are injured.
There are women and children here who are -- there's a pregnant woman with broken ribs. The Sri Lankan army seems to only have very few helicopters here that have touched down and taken away very few of the injured people.
We've all been sleeping in a field throughout the night. And right now I believe it's about 4 in the morning here. I'm with about a group of 60 tourists as well as many locals. And it's just been utter devastation, bodies everywhere. And -- and just really absolutely horrible, horrible devastation.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Nate, can you kind of replay for us where you were at the time of the tsunami hitting the area where you are? And, exactly what transpired?
BERKUS: There was actually no warning. I was asleep in a beachfront cottage. I heard a loud noise. All of a sudden the roof was ripped off of the cottage, and my friend and I were taken out to sea. Just taken in currents that were so strong with debris and cars and animals and people tearing by.
We were able to hang onto a telephone pole with a mattress wedged between us for literally 30 seconds. There was a calm in the storm and then another wave hit. Both of us were torn away from the -- from the phone pole.
I finally climbed up to a roof of a -- of a home, because the water pushed me behind the home. And sat out the rest of the waves on top of this -- this structure, which luckily held.
But many people have died. There are a lot of us injured here. I'm very scraped up but luckily I'm OK, and I'm still missing my friend.
WHITFIELD: And the other people around you, was it a sense of -- everything happening so fast it was even difficult for you all to kind of cling to one another or help one another? Was it really every man for him or herself?
BERKUS: Well, I mean, really against that kind of force of nature there was nothing any of us could do. There were definitely people helping one another in the aftermath, helping to reunite families and helping to understand exactly what was going on. But the bottom line is we desperately need help here and we need it first thing, as soon as the sun comes up here which is in a couple of hours. I understand the American government has something under way. I hope that's true, because we are really very desperate.
WHITFIELD: And, Nate, you mentioned your friend is still missing.
BERKUS: He is.
WHITFIELD: What kind of efforts are under way to try to locate your friend?
BERKUS: Well, right now, I'm part of one sort of area with all of the -- it's nighttime here. It's black outside. And I'm part of one little area of survivors.
Our hope is that there are other little pockets of survivors throughout the island. I am in a town called Arugam Bay, which is near the town of Putaville (ph), which is a tourist area here in Sri Lanka on the east coast.
And apparently there is -- we have been cut off, this section -- this group of people and myself have been cut off completely from -- from the mainland, because the bridges were destroyed that connect this part of the island to the mainland of the island.
So we're hoping that with the current being as strong as it was, that we are not the only survivors here stranded on this part. That there are people who are surviving, including my friend, Fernando Benoechea, on the other side.
WHITFIELD: Are there any locals there who are trying to come to the aid of you and other foreign tourist there, to give you a sense as to what to do next, given that this is a very foreign experience for most people?
BERKUS: Yes. I mean this is -- there's a language barrier here, obviously. I mean, I'm sitting here with nothing: no passport, no money, no anything in some -- in shorts that somebody gave me.
There's not really a sense of what we're going to be doing other than a lot of people have spoken to the British embassy, a man named Allen Martin (ph), who is a defense minister, has been on the phone.
Hopefully, there is a couple of cars with power that we can plug telephones into to be in touch with the different embassies. And we've been told the helicopters will be coming to airlift us out as soon as the sun comes up.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Stay with CNN all throughout the day and into the evening as it continues complete coverage all around the globe of this tsunami tragedy.
Back with more LIVE FROM in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(STOCK REPORT)
O'BRIEN: David, appreciate it. That wraps up this edition of LIVE FROM.
NGUYEN: "INSIDE POLITICS" is next. Kelly Wallace is here with a preview.
Hi, there, Kelly.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there, Betty and Miles.
Well, up next, how is the Bush administration responding to the devastating natural disaster in Southeast Asia? We will find out how money and assistance are getting to the region.
And what kind of plan is in place in case this type of emergency strikes much closer to home? We will talk to a tsunami expert who is in charge of the Pacific warning system. That's all coming up ahead.
"INSIDE POLITICS" begins in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALLACE: Now in the news, is Osama bin Laden trying to thwart Iraq's upcoming elections?
The Al Jazeera network has aired a new audiotape purportedly made by bin laden, in which he designates Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al- Zarqawi as his deputy in Iraq. The tape also urges Iraqis to boycott next month's elections. If the voice is bin Laden's it would be the first time he has mentioned al-Zarqawi.
A political rematch in Ukraine has Viktor Yushchenko supporters cheering in the streets. Election officials say with counting almost complete, Yushchenko has a commanding lead in the presidential revote, but Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych is refusing to concede defeat and says he will go to the Supreme Court to challenge the results.
The holiday travel weekend turned into a weekend spent at the airport for many passengers. Computer glitches, bad weather, a number of airline workers sick-outs all contributed to leaving thousands of flights unflown and piles of baggage unhandled.
U.S. Airways and Delta Airlines' Comair subsidiary are still scrambling today to resume normal flight schedules.
And entertainer George Carlin says he is ready for rehab. In a statement, the 67-year-old comic says he's taking the step because he's been using too much wine and Vicodin. He adds that although he could have continued functioning for now, he knew he'd end up in deeper trouble and didn't want that to happen.
Now it's on to "JUDY WOODRUFF'S INSIDE POLITICS" with Kelly Wallace today.
TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com
Aired December 27, 2004 - 15:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
BETTY NGUYEN, CNN ANCHOR: In the Ukraine, Viktor Yushchenko has a commanding lead. His rival is selling he will not succeed. Yanukovych says he will appeal the election results to Ukraine's Supreme Court.
And a new Osama bin Laden tape may have surfaced. The Arabic language network Al Jazeera aired an audiotape from a man claiming to be bin Laden today. His identity has not been verified. The speaker, though, endorses Jordanian born terrorist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and calls for Iraqis to boycott next month's elections.
MILES O'BRIEN, CNN ANCHOR: The death toll continues to climb from the disastrous tsunamis in Asia. At this hour, our latest estimates, more than 22,000 dead in about 10 countries, mostly in a geographic semicircle around the Indian Ocean, scene of a massive undersea earthquake.
As of now almost half of all confirmed deaths in Sri Lanka.
About an hour after that earthquake hit, this was a scene at a tourist resort in Thailand. A massive rush of water that came without warning, engulfing all in its path. Similar scenes reported over and over along thousands of miles of coastline.
In Sri Lanka today the aftermath: beaches reduced to mud, tourists gone, an entire industry wrecked. The same dismal story from Indonesia to Malaysia to Thailand and India.
Here's one departed tourist who fled the shaken region to return back home to England.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: All of a sudden we saw people rushing from the beach side, because it's literally 100 yards. We thought what was going on? It's 10:30 in the morning. It's ridiculous; it's hot.
And all of a sudden, within five seconds, the water just seeped in. It was amazing. It was so quick. It was like a movie. And all of a sudden, all the water reached the ground very fast. Then within a few minutes it was coming up to the second floor, but then it started receding back and you couldn't get out, basically. There was complete pandemonium.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
O'BRIEN: The earthquake that spawned this far-flung disaster was the strongest in 40 years and the fourth biggest in recorded history.
Deadly waves reached thousands of miles from the epicenter all the way to the horn of Africa, where hundreds of people are reportedly dead along the coastline of Somalia.
Now, all together, it is a blow of staggering scope. CNN's Randi Kaye reports.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
RANDI KAYE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: It was sudden and it was severe. A wall of water, the result of a massive earthquake measuring 9.0 on the Indian Ocean's floor, slammed the shoreline.
This is Panang, Malaysia, where massive amounts of water rolled through the streets. Not even buildings stand in its way.
Indonesia, India and Sri Lanka was also hit. At resorts in Thailand, the tsunami caught vacationers off guard.
JOHN IRVINE, REPORTER: My wife screamed to me. She grabbed our daughter, Elizabeth, and I looked frantically for my 5-year-old son, Peter.
KAYE: British reporter John Irvine's son is safe. Irvine was on the island of Phuket off Thailand, vacationing with family.
No longer guests of luxury hotels, tourists are now homeless, forced to drag their luggage through deserted streets, many in search of higher ground.
The death toll continues to climb, more than 20,000 and counting. Coffins are being numbered and marked with pictures of the dead inside.
DAYANDHI MARAN, INDIAN GOVERNMENT OFFICE: Families are being -- have died. No one to really report it the missing people to.
KAYE: For now, without enough coffins to go around the bodies of women and children lay in the street. Families face the difficult task of collecting those they've lost and grieving in public.
Homes and neighborhoods are gone. Bungalows float like boats in the muddy waters.
Survivors are in shock. The water will eventually recede but those who can leave, will.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: So now we're just going to get to the airport and just get out of there, get home. It's been an absolute nightmare.
KAYE: Randi Kaye, CNN.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: And CNN has reporters stationed along this ring of disaster. They are bringing us the story from Indonesia to Thailand, Sri Lanka and India. Right now, here's CNN's Aneesh Raman on Phuket Island, Thailand.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
ANEESH RAMAN, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): The moment a tropical resort became a scene of horror. A massive wave, one of many, roaring into Patong Beach on Phuket Island.
An Australian tourist on a rooftop capturing the beginning of a catastrophe: a wall of water engulfing buildings, surging into the streets, carrying people, vehicles and more. One snapshot of a disaster that has ravaged a continent.
Not far away, 26-year-old Belgian tourist Julia Lebeau was among thousands of vacationers enjoying a break in the tropics.
JULIA LEBEAU, TSUNAMI SURVIVOR: And I was just trying to spend the day on the beach. And suddenly all the water went away and everyone was just looking at it and saying, where is all the water? And then suddenly, it was all coming at us. And people just started to run and scream.
RAMAN: In seconds serene tranquility turned into a hellish fight to stay alive.
LEBEAU: The building was collapsing, so I had to jump to another building. And then a second wave came in, and a third wave came in and people injured. I saw dead bodies floating. And so then at a moment we decided with a couple of people just to run for it.
RAMAN (on camera): As tsunami waves devoured the coastlines of Phuket and Phi Phi Island, tourists like Julia desperately scrambled for higher ground. Whatever remained on the shore now evidence of severe destruction.
(VOICE-OVER) Destruction Julia avoided. She is now at this hospital along with hundreds of other survivors from at least 20 countries, all in shock.
LEBEAU: I hope to be back for a new year with my family. We'll never forget this Christmas.
RAMAN: But at least she has somewhere to go. Many who live here are still missing family members and have no home left.
Aneesh Raman, CNN, Phuket, southern Thailand.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: And now the latest from the devastation in Sri Lanka, where some 11,000 are reported dead and a quarter of a million are homeless. In the capital city of Colombo, torrential rains have set in.
Reporters Harry Smith of ITV News says the already grim situation now even more desperate for survivors.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
HARRY SMITH, CNN CORRESPONDENT (voice-over): As we drove south from the capital, Colombo, it wasn't long before we saw the scale of the damage the sea has inflicted on this island nation.
In a torrential rain, they surveyed the damage and began to pick up the pieces.
(on camera) And this is just one small stretch of the Sri Lankan coastline which was hit. And to make matters worse for those who are now homeless, they're being drench by a tropical storm.
(voice-over) This man told me there wasn't one member of his family who still had a roof over their heads.
UNIDENTIFIED MALE: My brother and my sister, four houses on the same land, everything, all houses are totally destroyed. Everything.
SMITH: Some have already brought in earth movers to staff the cleanup. Others have only their hands to pick at the rubble.
(on camera) This is the fishing village of Piagala (ph), where boats like this are normally left moored down on the beach. This one ended up more than 300 yards from the water's edge, tossed by the force of the waves, left high and dry here in the village churchyard.
(voice-over) Cars were also picked up and tossed aside. One man told me he found his 400 yards from his wrecked garage.
It will be many months before trains once again run into the village station. The authorities have managed to clear most of the roads of debris. Much needed supplies such as freshwater are getting through here.
But this is a relatively prosperous and heavily populated part of Sri Lanka. In other areas they haven't begun to count the cost.
Harry Smith, ITV News, Sri Lanka.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
NGUYEN: Well, as shocking and devastating as Sunday's tsunamis were, the worst is likely yet still to come. Millions of people in Southeast Asia are now without food, shelter, water and medicine. And sanitary conditions are expected to deteriorate rapidly.
CNN's Allan Chernoff on the immediate and growing world response to the crisis on what is need most -- Allan.
ALLAN CHERNOFF, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well, Betty, relief organizations are asking for cash donations, not goods, and among the groups that are soliciting donations, the American Red Cross, which, of course, has affiliates overseas in more than 180 countries, also CARE and Americare. This is a relatively small organization that takes donations from pharmaceutical companies and then donations from private individuals. That money is used to actually ship the goods overseas. So they say every $100 of cash donations actually result in more than $3,000 of medical supplies arriving at areas where it is needed most.
Now, the U.S. government has already pitched in. It is contributing $15 million as a starter, and the secretary of state says the money already is being disbursed.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)
COLIN POWELL, SECRETARY OF STATE: Our ambassadors in Sri Lanka, the Maldives, India and Indonesia have provided a total of $400,000 in immediate assistance. And we are in discussion with the International Committee of the Red Cross about providing $4 million in the course of a day of the $6.6 million appeal that they have made.
We are also examining what other assets might be needed, and we'll do everything we can to help.
(END VIDEO CLIP)
CHERNOFF: The head of emergency relief at the United Nations today said that the U.S. and other countries are, quote, "stingy." He said that the needs now will be unprecedented for this disaster.
Now, of course, it's going to be weeks before we really know the full extent of this catastrophe. But even some of the aid organizations have been hit. Oxfam, for example, in Sri Lanka, one of their offices was flooded. And CARE says that some of its staff is unaccounted for right now -- Betty.
NGUYEN: Allan, as people watch from home and are thinking about going out and buying blankets and bottles of water, what's needed most? Is it money?
CHERNOFF: That's a very good question. The aid organizations are saying send money, not goods at all. Partly because the aid organizations are able to use that money to buy exactly what is needed.
Now, there have been many stories of communities coming together, gathering food, blankets, whatever, and then they have the goods and they don't even know how to ship it over. They don't have contacts.
These professional aid organizations have people on the ground. They have experience actually getting the goods over. And very often they can use the money to buy the products locally. Of course, that cuts down on transportation time, and expenses and also can help to stimulate the local economy.
NGUYEN: And you can reach more people that way, especially when the cost is a lot less. Allan Chernoff, thank you for that -- Miles.
O'BRIEN: An Atlanta family wants and waits anxiously for news from their loved ones.
NGUYEN: A couple honeymooning in Thailand has not been heard from since the tsunami struck. Their story just ahead on LIVE FROM.
O'BRIEN: Also caught up in the catastrophe, a man made famous by his appearances on "The Oprah Winfrey Show". He shares what it was like to be literally swept away.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
NGUYEN: Here in the U.S., people are desperately waiting to hear news of loved ones in some of the tsunami stricken areas.
Wendy Beville joins us now on the phone from Atlanta. Wendy's brother and sister-in-law were honeymooning in Thailand.
And Wendy, first of all, have you heard anything yet?
WENDY BEVILLE, BROTHER AND SISTER-IN-LAW IN THAILAND: no, we haven't heard anything since Wednesday night.
NGUYEN: And what did you hear Wednesday night?
BEVILLE: We just got a phone call from Brent. They were in Bangkok. They were basically just checking in with us. They were having a great time.
NGUYEN: Brent and your sister-in-law Diana were honeymooning in Thailand. Why Thailand? Why did they choose to go there?
BEVILLE: They -- they wanted to go to Thailand for three years. They -- they wanted to go and explore -- explore Thailand. They wanted to visit tribes and villages and see how the people there lived. They live in huts, and they just wanted to explore the whole area, visit Asia.
NGUYEN: Do you have any idea where they may have been staying in Thailand, if it was one of the beach resorts?
BEVILLE: I have no idea where they were staying. But Brent told my husband that he was definitely planning on doing some surfing, which is a little alarming. But he also mentioned that they were going to be visiting Vietnam and Singapore. So it just depends on where they were when this hit.
NGUYEN: So there could be a chance that they may have already left the country.
Well, let's talk about his surfing. So there is a possibility, though, and I guess this leads to your worry, that they may have been on the beach when the tsunami hit?
BEVILLE: Right. That's right. And, you know, Brent surfed all over the world. He -- he surfed in Hawaii and Coast Rica. He surfed in Europe. And I just find it hard to believe that if he was right here that he wouldn't -- wouldn't go surfing. NGUYEN: Since he's such a big surfer, do you think maybe he would have seen some kind of a warning sign of this tsunami?
BEVILLE: I don't think so. I mean, I've just been listening to the news. And even people sitting on the beach where just staring at the ocean and had no clue that it was coming.
NGUYEN: Take us back to yesterday when you first heard the news of the tsunami that hit Thailand. What went through your head?
BEVILLE: I was just -- my heart just dropped. I got the phone call from my -- my father, who said, "Did you know that a tsunami has hit Thailand?" And obviously I didn't know. But I was worried sick the rest of the night. I think our whole family was.
NGUYEN: Are you getting any kind of help in locating him, whether it be from the U.S. government, from the Thailand government? What do you know?
BEVILLE: Well, we've -- we've been contacting the help lines, and they've been really great to take our names, numbers, assuring us that if they hear anything they'll return our phone calls. And they welcomed us to keep checking back with them any time they want to.
So we just -- we haven't heard anything yet. And I guess I'm just concerned, because he knows that a tidal wave hit. So you know, we're just -- we're hoping for that phone call from him to let us know that he's OK. And why we haven't heard that I think is why we're all worried.
NGUYEN: When is he expected back from his honeymoon?
BEVILLE: January the 3rd.
NGUYEN: OK. Not too long from now. Not too long.
What kind of a message, as we wait and many families out there wait to hear from their loved one, what kind of message do you have for your brother and your sister-in-law?
BEVILLE: Well, we just want to hear from them. We want to know they're OK. We're hoping that they're somewhere where they can see this and just -- just call us and let us know. And until then, not knowing is really hard.
NGUYEN: Yes, that's a big part of the battle. Wendy Beville, we wish you the best of luck. Hopefully you'll hear from him soon. Thank you for speaking with us today.
BEVILLE: Thank you very much.
NGUYEN: Miles.
O'BRIEN: Now to Sri Lanka, the island nation just east of India described as the hardest hit region. More than 10,000 people reported dead there alone. Thousands more still missing. Yesterday, as the dramatic events were unfolding, CNN was able to speak with an American man visiting Sri Lanka. Celebrity decorator Nate Berkus, a regular on "The Oprah Winfrey Show", spoke with CNN's Fredricka Whitfield about a vacation turned nightmare.
(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)
NATE BERKUS, TSUNAMI SURVIVOR: We were completely devastated yesterday morning around 9 in the morning. We desperately, desperately need help from the government here. We're without water. We're without food, and many of us are injured.
There are women and children here who are -- there's a pregnant woman with broken ribs. The Sri Lankan army seems to only have very few helicopters here that have touched down and taken away very few of the injured people.
We've all been sleeping in a field throughout the night. And right now I believe it's about 4 in the morning here. I'm with about a group of 60 tourists as well as many locals. And it's just been utter devastation, bodies everywhere. And -- and just really absolutely horrible, horrible devastation.
FREDRICKA WHITFIELD, CNN ANCHOR: Nate, can you kind of replay for us where you were at the time of the tsunami hitting the area where you are? And, exactly what transpired?
BERKUS: There was actually no warning. I was asleep in a beachfront cottage. I heard a loud noise. All of a sudden the roof was ripped off of the cottage, and my friend and I were taken out to sea. Just taken in currents that were so strong with debris and cars and animals and people tearing by.
We were able to hang onto a telephone pole with a mattress wedged between us for literally 30 seconds. There was a calm in the storm and then another wave hit. Both of us were torn away from the -- from the phone pole.
I finally climbed up to a roof of a -- of a home, because the water pushed me behind the home. And sat out the rest of the waves on top of this -- this structure, which luckily held.
But many people have died. There are a lot of us injured here. I'm very scraped up but luckily I'm OK, and I'm still missing my friend.
WHITFIELD: And the other people around you, was it a sense of -- everything happening so fast it was even difficult for you all to kind of cling to one another or help one another? Was it really every man for him or herself?
BERKUS: Well, I mean, really against that kind of force of nature there was nothing any of us could do. There were definitely people helping one another in the aftermath, helping to reunite families and helping to understand exactly what was going on. But the bottom line is we desperately need help here and we need it first thing, as soon as the sun comes up here which is in a couple of hours. I understand the American government has something under way. I hope that's true, because we are really very desperate.
WHITFIELD: And, Nate, you mentioned your friend is still missing.
BERKUS: He is.
WHITFIELD: What kind of efforts are under way to try to locate your friend?
BERKUS: Well, right now, I'm part of one sort of area with all of the -- it's nighttime here. It's black outside. And I'm part of one little area of survivors.
Our hope is that there are other little pockets of survivors throughout the island. I am in a town called Arugam Bay, which is near the town of Putaville (ph), which is a tourist area here in Sri Lanka on the east coast.
And apparently there is -- we have been cut off, this section -- this group of people and myself have been cut off completely from -- from the mainland, because the bridges were destroyed that connect this part of the island to the mainland of the island.
So we're hoping that with the current being as strong as it was, that we are not the only survivors here stranded on this part. That there are people who are surviving, including my friend, Fernando Benoechea, on the other side.
WHITFIELD: Are there any locals there who are trying to come to the aid of you and other foreign tourist there, to give you a sense as to what to do next, given that this is a very foreign experience for most people?
BERKUS: Yes. I mean this is -- there's a language barrier here, obviously. I mean, I'm sitting here with nothing: no passport, no money, no anything in some -- in shorts that somebody gave me.
There's not really a sense of what we're going to be doing other than a lot of people have spoken to the British embassy, a man named Allen Martin (ph), who is a defense minister, has been on the phone.
Hopefully, there is a couple of cars with power that we can plug telephones into to be in touch with the different embassies. And we've been told the helicopters will be coming to airlift us out as soon as the sun comes up.
(END VIDEOTAPE)
O'BRIEN: Stay with CNN all throughout the day and into the evening as it continues complete coverage all around the globe of this tsunami tragedy.
Back with more LIVE FROM in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
(STOCK REPORT)
O'BRIEN: David, appreciate it. That wraps up this edition of LIVE FROM.
NGUYEN: "INSIDE POLITICS" is next. Kelly Wallace is here with a preview.
Hi, there, Kelly.
KELLY WALLACE, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, there, Betty and Miles.
Well, up next, how is the Bush administration responding to the devastating natural disaster in Southeast Asia? We will find out how money and assistance are getting to the region.
And what kind of plan is in place in case this type of emergency strikes much closer to home? We will talk to a tsunami expert who is in charge of the Pacific warning system. That's all coming up ahead.
"INSIDE POLITICS" begins in just a moment.
(COMMERCIAL BREAK)
WALLACE: Now in the news, is Osama bin Laden trying to thwart Iraq's upcoming elections?
The Al Jazeera network has aired a new audiotape purportedly made by bin laden, in which he designates Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al- Zarqawi as his deputy in Iraq. The tape also urges Iraqis to boycott next month's elections. If the voice is bin Laden's it would be the first time he has mentioned al-Zarqawi.
A political rematch in Ukraine has Viktor Yushchenko supporters cheering in the streets. Election officials say with counting almost complete, Yushchenko has a commanding lead in the presidential revote, but Prime Minister Viktor Yanukovych is refusing to concede defeat and says he will go to the Supreme Court to challenge the results.
The holiday travel weekend turned into a weekend spent at the airport for many passengers. Computer glitches, bad weather, a number of airline workers sick-outs all contributed to leaving thousands of flights unflown and piles of baggage unhandled.
U.S. Airways and Delta Airlines' Comair subsidiary are still scrambling today to resume normal flight schedules.
And entertainer George Carlin says he is ready for rehab. In a statement, the 67-year-old comic says he's taking the step because he's been using too much wine and Vicodin. He adds that although he could have continued functioning for now, he knew he'd end up in deeper trouble and didn't want that to happen.
Now it's on to "JUDY WOODRUFF'S INSIDE POLITICS" with Kelly Wallace today.
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